Clinton defeated Robert Dole, a longtime U.S. senator from Kansas, to win reelection in 1996. Dole had served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1960s before winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1968. He was reelected to that seat four more times. He resigned from the Senate while running for president in 1996. As a former war hero—he was wounded in World War II—with plenty of experience, it seemed that Dole presented a formidable challenge to Clinton. But Clinton easily defeated him with an electoral vote count of 359 to 179.